Apparently, then-senior John Roper bought the then-freshman Coryatt his first beer 21 years ago. At the Chicken.

“I really appreciate it, John,” Coryatt said Friday, glancing out into the crowd at the Zone Club.

Coryatt said Roper handed him the drink and then cast him a glance that said, “All right, kid, I bought you a beer. Now beat it.”

Coryatt and Roper joined fellow football players Roddy Osborne and Greg Hill, basketball’s Winston Crite and track’s Bashir Ramzy as this year’s new A&M athletics hall of fame members.

Below are a few anecdotes from each man’s speeches:

 Coryatt, an intimidating linebacker who wound up the No. 2 overall selection of the 1992 NFL Draft, said the “mystique of the Wrecking Crew” brought him to A&M out of Baytown Lee High.

“I made the best decision of my life,” said Coryatt, recruited to A&M by then-coach Jackie Sherrill.

Coryatt added that the coach he wound up playing for, R.C. Slocum, “taught us to be champions, on and off the field.”

Coryatt said that he owns plenty of jewelry, but that “my Aggie Ring will be with me until the day I die.”

In an aside, Coryatt described childhood friend and then A&M teammate Chris Crooms as “6 foot 5 with a beard in the sixth grade.” I’m not sure if Coryatt was kidding.

 Speaking of Slocum, a hall of fame inductee last year who was in attendance on Friday, it was he who discovered Crite out in California while scouting a football player during a basketball game.

Crite led the underdog Aggies to the 1987 Southwest Conference tournament championship under then-coach Shelby Metcalf. The folksy coach passed away in February 2007.

“I would have liked to have talked to him one last time,” Crite said, his voice cracking. “He believed in me.”

 Osborne, a quarterback under famed coach Paul “Bear” Bryant in the mid 1950s, said back then the freshmen had their own squads that played other schools.

Osborne said the players had to shave their heads if they lost to the Texas freshmen.

“There was a lot of hair riding on that game,” he said, chuckling.

 Ramzy, an All-American, led the Aggies to the 2001 Big 12 outdoor championship under then-coach Ted Nelson. Ramzy said he was as excited as anyone when both the A&M men and women won the national outdoor titles this past season under current coach Pat Henry.